Anthropologist called to study remains found along Allegheny Passage

Investigators work at the site where human remains were found near Meyersdale, Somerset County, on Nov. 12, 2012. The remains were discovered and reported to the Pennsylvania State Police on Sunday, Nov. 11, 2012.

We are currently undergoing updates to our site and are working to improve your experience on all devices that you use throughout your day. If you should find a page or a story that is not working correctly, please click here.

Thank you for your patience,

TribLIVE.com Team

A forensic anthropologist and his team were called to Somerset County Monday to help gather and study human remains found along the Great Allegheny Passage biking and hiking trail.

The remains were found around 12:30 p.m. Sunday in Larimer Township, just outside Meyersdale, by someone using the trail, state police spokesman Trooper Stephen Limani said.

After troopers determined the remains were human, Dennis Dirkmaat of Mercyhurst University was called in to recover the remains and try to identify them, Limani said.

“Right now, we don't even know the gender,” Limani said Monday.

Troopers secured the scene until Dirkmaat's team arrived.

“We haven't been touching anything,” Limani said.

“The physical evidence that could be lost and the mistakes that could be made by not having an expert handle this could be detrimental to the case.”

Neighbors gathered outside to talk and watch as investigators used yellow tape to mark off a wooded area under the trail bypass near Glade City Road.

A blue tarp shielded the scene as investigators worked Monday afternoon, and the roadway was closed to traffic for a time.

State police may hold a news conference about the case Tuesday afternoon, Limani said.

You are solely responsible for your comments and by using TribLive.com you agree to our
Terms of Service.

We moderate comments. Our goal is to provide substantive commentary for a general readership. By screening submissions, we provide a space where readers can share intelligent and informed commentary that enhances the quality of our news and information.

While most comments will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive, moderating decisions are subjective. We will make them as carefully and consistently as we can. Because of the volume of reader comments, we cannot review individual moderation decisions with readers.

We value thoughtful comments representing a range of views that make their point quickly and politely. We make an effort to protect discussions from repeated comments either by the same reader or different readers

We follow the same standards for taste as the daily newspaper. A few things we won't tolerate: personal attacks, obscenity, vulgarity, profanity (including expletives and letters followed by dashes), commercial promotion, impersonations, incoherence, proselytizing and SHOUTING. Don't include URLs to Web sites.

We do not edit comments. They are either approved or deleted. We reserve the right to edit a comment that is quoted or excerpted in an article. In this case, we may fix spelling and punctuation.

We welcome strong opinions and criticism of our work, but we don't want comments to become bogged down with discussions of our policies and we will moderate accordingly.

We appreciate it when readers and people quoted in articles or blog posts point out errors of fact or emphasis and will investigate all assertions. But these suggestions should be sent
via e-mail. To avoid distracting other readers, we won't publish comments that suggest a correction. Instead, corrections will be made in a blog post or in an article.